


Ten Minutes

by goingtothetardis



Series: 300 Followers Milestone Prompt Fics [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Blood, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 13:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5745670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goingtothetardis/pseuds/goingtothetardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose have ten minutes to return to the TARDIS before a weapon factory explodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Minutes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caedmon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/gifts).



> **Lalochezia** \- The use of abusive language to relieve stress or ease pain.
> 
> Follower milestone prompt, prompted by caedmonfaith on tumblr.

“Run!” The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand, and they ran like hell out of the factory. “I set it to detonate in 10 minutes, but we should make it back to the TARDIS in time. We’re just about a mile away, and I know you can run a mile in less than ten minutes.”

The Doctor and Rose sprinted hand in hand down the road from the weapons factory on Grxlacx. It’d taken several days to infiltrate security and place explosives in various locations around the facility. The Doctor had coordinated with the resistance leaders, and the workers had been successfully detained without loss of life. The same, however, could not be said for the ring leaders of the corrupted government section that had been secretly developing weapons to distribute around the galaxy. A few had been shot during the initial confrontation with the resistance, but two individuals managed to escape. It’d been a frustrating blow, but they’d been able to take control of the factory and make adequate preparations with the local population for the factory’s destruction. The Doctor had configured the explosives to contain the factory blast radius to one mile, and the nearby town and all the lives in it, would be spared. 

Due to the nature of the explosives, remote detonation by his sonic would not work, and despite his many attempts to send Rose back to the TARDIS for safety, she’d refused to leave his side. “No, Doctor, m’not leaving your side. Either we do this together or not at all, you chose.” Rose had stood resolutely in front of him, arms crossed and eyes blazing like fire. 

Now, as they ran as fast as they could from the factory, the Doctor hoped he didn’t regret once again acquiescing to Rose’s stubborn demands. They’d been running for _five minutes and thirty-seven seconds_ when Rose cried out and stumbled. 

“ What’s wrong? Rose, we have to run.” The Doctor gripped her hand and tried to pull her back up before he realized there was a blossoming spot of red dotting Rose’s side that hadn’t been there before. “Rose!!”

“Doctor!” Rose stumbled forward, and her hand pulled from his as she fell to her knees. She gingerly touched her side and looked at her bloodstained fingers in confusion.

The Doctor stood completely still as he allowed his senses to pick out any disturbances in the surrounding area. A slight movement caught his eye from the bushes edging the road, so slight his superior vision almost missed it, and he heard the cock of a gun. In the blink of an eye, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and activated the setting to cause a disturbance in the firing mechanism of the gun. A grim frown creased his face as the gun backfired and a muffled, painful shout rang out. 

He hoped he’d disabled any further danger as he fell to his knees beside Rose. Precious seconds had passed, but they couldn’t move further if their way was threatened. 

Rose was still on her knees, hand covering her wound, despite the blood oozing from her side. The Doctor murmured soothing words to her as he quickly scanned her torso with his sonic. 

“Fuck, thank Rassilon.” He breathed a sigh of relief and thanked any and all deities willing to listen after the sonic revealed the bullet had just missed all important organs and blood vessels. 

“Doctor?” Rose wobbled precariously on her knees as the blood loss made her dizzy and disoriented. 

“You’re gonna be okay, Rose. I’ve got to try and stop the bleeding and then carry you to the TARDIS. We only have a few minutes left before the factory explodes, and -” The Doctor trailed off as he forced himself to stop that train of thought. They would get back to the TARDIS. They had no choice. He could possibly survive the blast, but Rose...

The Doctor wrapped his arm around her and lowered her gently to the ground before digging through his jacket pocket. He pulled out his emergency kit, complete with gauze and 43rd century clotting strips, thankful the TARDIS had had the foresight to put one together for him after their disaster-prone Rose had started traveling with them. 

“Rose, Rose,” He shook her shoulder gently in an attempt to keep her eyes open, but they fluttered shut. _Shit._ Not wasting time, he pulled up her shirt, padded the area with gauze and covered it with the clotting strip. It was designed to adhere to the skin and block the flow of blood as needed. Dead useful in a pinch, those strips. Satisfied for the moment, he quickly looked over Rose’s body before cradling her in both arms and standing. Time continued to count down in his mind. _Eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds_ had passed. 

The Doctor pushed the overwhelming guilt from his mind and focused on the moment. The TARDIS. They had to get back to the TARDIS. The Doctor began to run again, as fast as he could with Rose in his arms. He rounded a curve in the road and spotted the TARDIS about 300 meters in front of him. He had _forty-two seconds_ left. Engaging his respiratory bypass, he pumped his legs harder. 

A shot of pain shot through his right calf, and he stumbled, growling loudly in anger. More idiots with guns, great. Ignoring the pain in his leg, he pushed forward towards the TARDIS. Pain blossomed in his left thigh, and he stumbled. _FUCK!_ The Doctor adjusted Rose in his arms, found his sonic, and once again activated the firing mechanism disruptor setting. Time ticked past. _Twenty-two seconds_ remained. They _had_ to get to the TARDIS. 

The Doctor continued resolutely down the road, his pace hindered by his wounded legs. Panic rose in his chest as the seconds ticked by. He called out to the TARDIS in his mind, begging her to open her doors. There was no time for keys. 

The doors remained closed, and the seconds ticked by. _Nine seconds_ left. Almost there. _Three seconds_. The Doctor collapsed against the door to the TARDIS, and as a deafening “BOOM!” echoed from the factory, the doors to his ship swung open, and he fell inside, Rose clutched to his chest. The doors slammed shut the moment the outer fringes of the blast waves hit the TARDIS, but she stood firm, unaffected by the explosion and protected by her shields. 

The Doctor lay on the grating for a moment, and curled his body protectively around Rose, despite knowing they were in the safety of the TARDIS. He burrowed his face in her neck, breathing her in, as he tried to control his breathing and raw panic. Rose moaned quietly, and the sound pulled him from the dark confines of his mind. 

They were safe. Rose was alive. The TARDIS hummed comfortingly in his mind and showed him the infirmary. Right, yes. Focus.

Now that they were out of harm’s way, the adrenaline that had been racing through the Doctor’s veins to mask the pain of his wounds trickled away, and the Doctor groaned in pain as he stood. Cradling Rose in his arms, he limped up the ramp to the console and flicked the appropriate levers to send them into the vortex before making his way to the infirmary. He found it immediately past the entrance to the console room, and he mentally thanked his ship. 

The Doctor placed Rose on an examination table and after briefly assessing the severity of his own wounds, he started working on Rose. 

One hour and fifteen minutes later, the Doctor transferred Rose to the comfortable bed in the infirmary after tending to her injuries. After another hour of plucking bullets from his own body and patching up his wounds, he tried to escape to his own room for a restorative sleep, but the TARDIS locked the door and flicked a light near the bed with Rose. Too tired to argue, he collapsed into bed next to Rose and fell into sleep.

+++

Soft fingers trailed down the side of his face, neck, and the bare skin of his torso before gently returning upwards. The hand cupped the side of his face, and warm lips gently pressed against his. The Doctor’s eyes opened, and his blue ones met the hazel eyes of Rose. 

“You saved my life,” she whispered, her thumb stroking his cheek and eyes not leaving his. 

“Suppose I did, me. And the TARDIS. We’d have been caught in the blast had she not opened her doors,” the Doctor replied, his voice still rough from sleep. 

“Am I gonna be alright?” Rose gestured to her side. 

“Right as rain, you’ll be.” The Doctor grunted softly as he pushed himself up into a seated position in bed and stretched his legs, slowly inspecting his range of motion. He gave a satisfied nod when it seemed his legs were in working order with no residual pain from the bullet wounds. 

“Doctor! Did you get shot, too?” Rose shot up in bed with a grimace, as pain flared briefly in her side. “Ouch.”

“Yes, but I took care of it. Good as new, me.” The Doctor flashed a smile at Rose, but he knew she saw the guarded look in his eyes. 

“Doctor, I’m sorry I didn’t stay in the TARDIS like you wanted me to. I thought it’d be best if we stayed together, and it got both of us shot. I - I’m so sorry.” Tears pooled in Rose’s eyes as she expressed her guilt. 

“Rose, no.” The Doctor turned to Rose and gently tugged her into his lap. He took a deep breath before replying, trying to believe the words he was about to say. “It wasn’t either of our faults. The guys that got away came back. It could’ve been far worse. We made it back in time, I fixed you up, and then I took care of my legs before having a restorative sleep. Time Lord trick, that. We’ll spend a few days in the vortex until I’m absolutely sure you’re healed, and then we’ll move on.”

“Promise? Doctor, promise me you won’t beat yourself up over this, please.”

The Doctor sighed and ran his fingers through Rose’s hair before gently cupping her chin and tilting her head back so he could look into her eyes. “I promise.”

He tightened his arms around Rose, and she pressed her face into his chest. 

They’d be alright, because it was them, the Doctor and Rose, and the TARDIS. Together they’d get through anything.


End file.
